Help... Is my Feather Duster Dying?

[lasek2k1]

I got my feather duster Saturday night, did 1hr 45 min acclimation. Sunday morning I found that his crown fell off. I thought ok, its stressed and it will be a few weeks for the crown to re-grow. But today when I got home from school, I saw that the worm part of it actaully left the tube. Now its laying on the sand coiled up in a ball twitching every few seconds.

What should I do or is it too late. I'll post parameters within a half hour but I tested it yesterday and everything was fine.

 

[lasek2k1]

ph 8.15
free ammonia .02
total ammonia .1
nitrite .05
nitrate 4
alk 4 meq/l
sg 1.0215
temp 78

On a side note I also got coral on Saturday which look pretty good now. I got an open brain coral and last night it opened up for a fair amount for just having been in the tank for a day. And my toadstool looks pretty good: its a bit curled but the tentacles a extended a little and i just blasted off some of the slime it was shedding. from what I read shedding is a good thing.

Anyone have any info on my feather duster?

 

[steve-s]

ph 8.15
free ammonia .02
total ammonia .1
nitrite .05

How long has the tank been set up? Ammonia and nitrite should be undetectable. Feather dusters have no tolerance for either. FWIW, you only need to test free ammonia (NH3) total ammonia is harmless at SW pH values.

alk 4 meq/l
sg 1.0215

Alk only needs to be in the 3 mEq/l range. Inverts will appreciate a 1.024-1.025 SG (35 ppt) range.

Cheers
Steve

 

[lasek2k1]

tanks been up for about 2 months now. its strange because i havent added anything four about 3 weeks since I got my O. clownfish. I even skimped on feeding just to make sure all the levels were down.

I read in another thread that IO salt mixes with a small trace of ammonia. i did about a 30% water change in the morning and when I finished acclimating, I ended up replacing about 1-2 gallons. could that be why?

 

[demodiki]

I don't think your tank has properly cycled.

 

[AR15 guy]

Feather dusters can shed them when they are stressed. Hopefully they is whats wrong.

I did not notice many small hitchhiker featherdusters in my tank during my cycle. Now that my cycle finished and the tank is getting established I have a TON. I lost count at 30 on a 2lbs piece of rock. Most are very small but I figured a bunch of small ones will look pretty cool.

My 10 gallon is doing awesome. And everyone told me I could do it....I used tap water to start the tank and I still have no algea problems. My turbo snails actually died because there was nothing to eat...

 

[steve-s]

I read in another thread that IO salt mixes with a small trace of ammonia. i did about a 30% water change in the morning and when I finished acclimating, I ended up replacing about 1-2 gallons. could that be why?

Doubtful, more commonly it is the test kit or type of kit; not the salt. Given this tank is newly set up, I would not think it ready for this type of invert. I would wait a few more months and look at adding hardier species for the first while. Dusters (Sabellastarte magnifica specifically) are quite sensitive and as I said earlier will not tolerate any kind of ammonia or nitrite.

Cheers
Steve

 

[phishead]

Also, Make sure that you are mixing, heating and aerating your H2O change salt water for a minimum of 12 hours if not 24.

I do not think that is your problem in this instance, but it seems to be a common beginner mistake. HTH

I read in another thread that IO salt mixes with a small trace of ammonia. i did about a 30% water change in the morning and when I finished acclimating, I ended up replacing about 1-2 gallons. could that be why?

Have you tested yours?